These days you don’t see many phone booths, but in Centre County you’ll find one with an artistic touch.

It’s called a ‘Telepoem Booth’ and it’s inside Webster’s Bookstore in State College.

You walk in, find a poem in the directory and dial on the rotary phone.

After a few rings, the poem you chose is recited.

There’s about 150 poems, each written by local poets.

Sarah Russell, a curator for the ‘Telepoem Booth,’ said there was a lot of attention to detail put into it.

The phone numbers in the directory are special for each writer.

The area code belongs to where their from and the next seven digits represent portions of their name and their poem title.

Russell said it’s special for the community to have something to represent local artists.

“These are poems that are understandable, they’re narrative poetry by and large and they’re even slam poetry, some so, we wanted to appeal to all ages and we really wanted to be part of the community,” Russell said.

She said it’s creative way to keep poetry appreciation alive.

Next they hope to bring a ‘Telepoem Booth’ to schools in our area.